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Month: June 2013

Hey kids, rock and roll! Finally, it’s the weekend! After the hard week’s work, now we have the perfect time to lay down and rest. We can also say that the weather improved again (the previous 5 days have been extremely wet both in the UK and Poland) only Malta is enjoying a truly summery heat. Rita is visiting her parents in Poland and today along with Olympia, they had photographed 4 new kitties – the July edition is looking hot, hot and hot!

Previous editions are below: please click on the links to see the cats that we have featured so far. All comments, reviews, gossips and information are highly encouraged and the Kat-a-log team (Rita, Mal and Olympia) are waiting for the fan mail. You can expect an honorable mention on the blog so keep the messages coming! The list is getting longer and longer – it’s not a surprise as you are reading the 16th issue for our cat project. And we are not even half way through 😀

Kat-a-log Feline no. 59
Three sides of a cat: Shining silver, Mysterious gaze and On a watch
Country of origin: Hong Kong, bought as a gift and given in May 2010

You wouldn’t believe, but this kitty with a long, pointy tail is actually a ring holder and not a figurine. It is made from a stainless steel with two blue cubic zirconias for the eyes. It has been made in Hong Kong and delivered as a holiday gift from Chris, a very nice guy from Rita’s previous job (Hi Chris!!). Chris and his fiancee traveled to China to visit some relatives in 2010 and returned with this kitten. Olympia had never seen a ring holder like that before and was very impressed with the design and idea for a accessory hanger in a shape of a cat. The cat is standing on a small plate decorated with elaborate flowery pattern. Sadly, we do not know who is responsible for manufacturing a cat like that as Chris removed the price tag. He didn’t want any money for it and Rita is still owning him a favor!

Shining silver

Mysterious gaze

On a watch

Kat-a-log Feline no. 60
Two sides of a cat: Looking good from every angle and Stretching after the nap
Unofficial name: Goldie
Country of origin: unknown, bought as a gift in Poland

Do you remember Kat-a-log Feline no. 58 from our previous edition? It was very heavy, big and had massive whiskers made from straw? If you are struggling to remember, please click on the link to the 15th edition of Kat-a-log and look at the last cat featured there. Feline no. 60 has been bought in the same place as number 58 and it was also a gift for Olympia from our father. The cat was purchased in Black Red and White shopping gallery in the city of Bedzin in September 2010 as a 32nd wedding anniversary gift. The best thing about the cat is the tail. If you look closely at the pictures below, you will notice that it can be easily removed and re-attached again to the resin figurine. The secret is simple – the tail has a small magnet at the end! No magic here, but this is the only cat in the whole collection with a magnetic tail! Very clever design but people holding the cat have to be careful. We had several guests expressing desire to take a closer look at the golden cat (it is known to us as Goldie) and then freaking out that they have destroyed the cat when its tail fell off 🙂

Looking good from every angle

Stretching after the nap

Kat-a-log Feline no. 61
Three sides of a cat: Sunspot, By the well and Perfect symmetry
Country of origin: Israel, bought as a gift in 2009

The third cat in this issue is the most exotic kitten that Olympia keeps in her collection. This small wooden beauty is only 10 cm tall (about 2 inches) and has arrived to Poland from Israel. The cat was a gift along with a wooden rosary and The Star of David keyring bought in the holy city of Jerusalem during a pilgrimage. We do not know what kind of wood the cat has been carved from (it is probably the olive tree) but we were told that all three items have been blessed by a priest (kohen or a rabbi). The figurine does not have eyes or mouth or whiskers but Olimpia thinks it has an air of mystery about it. We consider this cat to be a part of our own heritage as our great-grandmother was Jewish and it is nice to have something from her homeland with us.

Sunspot

By the well

Perfect symmetry

Kat-a-log Feline no. 62
Three sides of a cat: It’s a good observation point, Cute as a cat and Something in the distance has caught my eye
Country of origin: Uruguay, bought as a gift somewhere in 2000

Kat-a-log Feline no. 62 is cute as a button! It is tiny but surprisingly very heavy. The kitten has been made from ceramics and has several colorful porcelain stripes on it: gold, red, black, silver and blue. The golden stripes are additionally painted with high gloss varnish, giving the cat almost mirror-like finish. If you are truly observant, you will easily spot Rita’s reflection holding her camera appearing in the tip of the kitty’s tail! Mal has bought this little fella in Berlin while living there in the early 2000’s. The figuring has a small black mark at the bottom probably made by the artist or manufacturer, but after so many years, we are unable to decipher what it says. If you recognize the maker or the artist responsible for creating this kitten, please let us know! The photo-session has been taken near the Bedzin castle, the first castle at the popular Trail of the Eagles’ Nest trail.

UPDATE: Thanks to a tip from one of the readers, we managed to find out who made this lovely kitted! The cat you see below is Baby Calico Cat by Artesania Riconada! It was made in Uruguay in 1999 and is still part of their ongoing collection in 2014! There are three cats in the Calico Family (catalog numbers: F107, F311, F106), and the one that Olympia has is F311.

Please read what the official website has to say about the cat:
“This piece from The Family Collection has two other cats designed to be displayed together with it (as shown in photo, from left to right: F107, F311, F106), but it is beautiful displayed all by itself. Each Artesania Rinconada ceramic animal design is individually hand-carved, hand-painted and kiln-fired, resulting in unique variations in detail and design. Family Collection pieces are beautifully accented in platinum and 18k gold, making these fascinating figurines prized by collectors worldwide”.

Artesania Riconada Calico Cat Family – from left to right: F107, F311, F106

It’s a good observation point

Cute as a cat

Something in the distance has caught my eye

All the good things are ending too fast! Another four cats are described and posted here for your enjoyment. Please come back soon if you are still not satisfied and craving for more Kat-a-log goodies. We believe, we have mentioned something about the backlog in the cats department in the last blog and we are not joking – there is still so much to write about and new additions are being photographed as we speak! Olympia the cat collector, always says: the more the merrier or more cats, more work.

July is going to be a busy month for cat lovers! And this is not a complain!

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Hello cats lovers. Summer is in full bloom and as the title says, it belongs to all things with tails, ears and whiskers 🙂 The weather is lovely, we have lots of sunshine (or rain if you are in the UK!), music festivals, beer and holidays – the cats are very happy and content. This edition of Kat-a-log could be called a Polish one as we have three beautiful kittens made and purchased in our lovely home country. The fourth cat (or the first on our list today) comes from Scandinavia and is one of the oldest cats in Olympia’s collection.

As usual, please look below at the previous blog entries about our collection. If you have any questions or information, do not hesitate and contact us – we love hearing from you. Even if you’d like to tell us about your weird hobbies or just complain about your cats, we shall gladly lend ya an ear. The email is rdabrowicz at yahoo dot com. Just do not spam – we are well protected!

This kitty is a rock and roll cat. We have bought it at the end of Roskilde Festival in 2003 in the arts village. The art market has been located in the middle of the festival grounds, among the three scenes: the Pavilion (young bands), The Odeon (rock and metal) and Orange Stage aka Canopy Stage (the main stage of the festival). It has been raining heavily for a few days and to reach the stalls, we had to jump over deep mud lake and large puddles. We do not know where the cat was originally made. At that time, Olympia possessed only handful of figurines and none of us thought, she would collect such a great number of items over the next decade. Had we known that her humble collection would become an art project, we would certainly ask the sellers a few questions and wrote their names down for future reference. All we can recall after so many years is, the people who sold the cat to us were part of Fair Trade movement and the wooden kitten has been carved and painted by an African artist. Its price was 120 Danish krone (dansk krone). Nonetheless, the figurine with enormous whiskers, has been proudly displayed on top of the kitchen cabinet for many years and was always admired by the guests. The lovely pictures you see below, have been taken in January 2013 in Agora Shopping Center in Bytom Poland, in a jewellery store called CLICK-SIX (Beeline-Group). The lady who kindly allowed us to take them was named Katarzyna (Kate). Thanks a lot!

Kat-a-log Feline no. 56
Three sides of a cat: Shelter from the cold, Proud on display and Sleeping in a basket
Country of origin: Poland, bought as a gift Poland in 2008

Our two next kitties (number 56 and 57) have been purchased in the same place – in a small art gallery located close to the main city square in Bytom. The art gallery is called “Galeria w szafie” (“Wardrobe Gallery” in Polish) and has been in operation since 2004. We consider it to be a small miracle, that the gallery survived this long! It is a tiny, family run business, but they offer extraordinary beautiful items – figurines, hand made jewellery, pots and crockery, picture frames, clothes and now fresh flowers and bouquets. Cat number 56 has been bought by Malicia during her trip to Poland in 2008 to visit Camerimage Plus Film Festival in Lodz (30th of November and 6th of December). This is the only figurine in Olympia’s collection that sadly have been damaged during transport (Mal has slipped on ice on her way home) and needed to be glued back together. You can clearly see the scar on the kitty’s neck on the second and third picture. Olympia added an elaborate red ribbon to cover the fracture. Broken or not, the cat is still much loved and we are very proud to have it!

Kat-a-log Feline no. 57
Three sides of a cat: Picture purrfect, Two is a family and Love is sweet
Country of origin: Poland, bought as a gift in January 2013

Believe it or not but Kat-a-log kitty number 57 is one piece that features two cats: black and ginger one. The cats are inseparable and looked so cute, that Rita had to buy them in an instant. The photo session has been taken in “Galeria w szafie” – “The Wardrobe Gallery” in Bytom with kind permission from the owners in January 2013. It was incredibly cold (something around – 20 Celsius) and Rita just left the dentist office – it’s no surprise that she went cat shopping after such traumatic events (a retail therapy always helps)! The figurine is made from Krakow ceramics and then covered with protective layer of varnish that gives the final product a nice, glossy effect.

Picture purrfect

Two is a family

Love is sweet

Kat-a-log Feline no. 58
Three sides of a cat: Patiently waiting, Scratch my back and Watching the people go by
Country of origin: unknown, bought in Poland as a gift in winter 2010

The last figurine in today’s edition is Kat-a-log is probably the heaviest piece of a cat that Olympia owns. This undisputed heavy-weight feline champion is made from thick clay mixed with ceramics and weights more than 3 kg (around 6 pounds!). It is also equipped with massive whiskers made of straw. The cat has been given to Olympia as a late Christmas present by our dad who spotted the magnificent kitty in a large shopping gallery called Black Red and White in the city of Bedzin. Rita has taken the pictures in Agora Shopping Center in Bytom while visiting her parents in January 2013. We had been stopped by a security guard who told us that the gallery do not allow any pictures to be taken and asked us to leave. Despite the incident, the pictures survived (hey, the guy wanted to take away our memory card!) and we are proud to present them here for your enjoyment. Ah, the things we have to suffer for the sake of the art!

Patiently waiting

Scratch my back

Watching the people go by

And this our friends, is the end of yet another Kat-a-log edition. Sad to see us go? Please return here quickly as we are preparing additional issue this month. We are having a large back log in the kitten department and we will gladly show you more figurines than usual.

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to give your cats (and dogs) some water. It is extremely hot outside! Also, please don’t leave them in your cars not even for 15 minutes in this heat. It takes about 10 minutes for the temperature inside the car to raise above 40 degrees, even with all windows open.

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Noble knights, fair ladies, dear quests, ladies and gentlemen – welcome to our humble blog. The first post in June is here – and we cannot believe how quickly this year is progressing. We are already half way through and there is so much to tell and so little time to write. Last post in May, was a lengthy review of the deliciously hot Chilli Festival. It proved to be one of the most popular pieces we have written so far – nearly 500 clicks in just few days! We have also received a lot of good press, comments and likes on different social media sites. Vox populi, vox dei – a perfect sense to continue the topic. We are delighted to invite you to take a closer look at the Eastnor Castle, a place that is never easily forgotten once you have seen it. You don’t need wellington boots, back pack or a tour guide on this virtual travel to one of the most interesting mock castles in The United Kingdom. Please relax and enjoy a bit of a history lesson and beautiful pictures.

Tourist information about the Castle printed on the back of the official map

Castles (fully functional, rebuilt and those in ruin) have always been incredibly popular with general public, but since the early 2000’s, they became more popular than ever. Movie series like “Harry Potter”, “Lord of the Rings” or “Game of thrones” introduced thousands of new people to fantasy genre. And since you cannot have a good fantasy piece without a palace or a castle playing an important role in the plot, the public started looking for buildings similar to Hogwarts, King’s Landing or Gondor. Luckily for Rita, Herefordshire (and local territories) have a rich and violent history and lots of places would make the hearts of fantasy fans beat faster. Wikipedia lists 24 castles in close proximity to the city of Hereford and additional 22 in Shropshire. They range from simple keeps, motte-and-bailey castles, fortified mansions to residential castles and important strongholds of Princes of England. With summer holidays starting shortly, it is a good idea to start visiting them one by one, to find your perfect spot.

Eastnor Castle might be one of the newest castles in the area, but this is where each journey into Herefordian past should start. We could offer you hundreds of reasons why, but the main one is very simple: Eastnor is a beautiful place with large grounds (5000 acres!) a lake, arboretum, deer park, picnic area, knights maze and children activity trail. It is also a home of at least two dozens festivals throughout the year including the Chilli Festival and the super popular The Land Rover Show (24 August 2013 – 25 August 2013). The castle is the only habituated building of this kind in the shire and allows the visitors to see how daily life looked like in previous centuries. If you are really lucky, you can meet the owner James Hervey-Bathurst or his family members. They are a truly lovely people (we have met them!) and will gladly answer all possible questions.

Late 19th century view of Eastnor Castle published in “The County Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland* (London: 1864-1880)” written by Reverend F. O. Morris

The same picture as above painted by Francis Lydon and printed by Benjamin Fawcett. The plates from this series were produced by a technique known as “chromoxylography”

Original aquarelle picture proposed by the designer, Robert Smirke

The castle has been the official residence for the Hervey-Bathurst family for the last 200 years, but the real beginnings of the estate can be traced to late 1600’s. It was when a wealthy Cocks clan moved to Eastnor village and settled in the nearby Manor of Castleditch. Over the years, they bought the neighbouring grounds and by the beginning of the 19th century became the biggest land owners in the area. The Cocks were soon joined in marriage with another affluent family, the Somers of Worcestershire and the combination of their fortunes gave the first Earl Somers enough funds to built a grand stately residence.

Four entrance Hall – the heart of the Castle

The Red Hall also known as The Inner Hall and the impressive armour collection

The Gothic Drawing Room – picture taken from official Face Book page

The construction of the castle started in 1810 with young Robert Smirke overseeing the works. Nearly 250 men worked around the clock for six years to create an enormous building in the style of an Norman Revival. From a distance, Eastnor was intended to create the impression of a medieval fortress guarding the Welsh Borders. In the first eighteen months of construction nearly 4,000 tons of building stone, 16,000 tons of mortar and 600 tons of wood were used. The castle has been finished in 1820, after a decade of hard work. It costed about £8.5 million in today’s terms.

Today, after being completely renovated, the castle can be hired for private and corporate events. The Estate is located near the Malvern Hills, just two miles away from the historic market town of Ledbury. It is surrounded by beautiful and picturesque countryside with steep hills, valleys, lake and open parks and woodlands. The diversity makes Eastnor Castle a perfect spot for any types of business team building activities, survival parties and trainings. Marketing team working for the castle offers a wide range of attractions for organized groups including Fevertree, Castle Treasure Hunt, survival trail, Castle Siege and High Adrenalin day. Guests can also choose to participate in Land Rover 4×4 Off-road Driving sessions, clay pigeon shootings, archery & crossbow lessons with private instructor, pottery classes and others. Eastnor can also be hired for conferences and private ceremonies like weddings, stag/hen parties or birthday celebrations. Believe us, the Castle has its own catering team that can prepare feasts suitable for Kings and Queens of England. They offer excellent accommodations for their quests as well.

Once again, we would like to thank Sir James Hervey-Bathurst for his generosity and kindness shown to us on our trip. Sadly, tourists are not allowed to take pictures of the interiors of the castle, so to illustrate this entry, we had to use photographs by David Urwin, Neil Harniman, Martin Avery, Roy Riley, Nick McCann, Countrylife magazine, Courtauld Institute of Art and Richard Surman, taken from book “Eastnor Castle” written by James Hervey-Bathurst and edited by Tim Steele. It was first published in 2011 by Eastnor Castle Press.

We may not be allowed to take pictures inside the building, but nobody minds when you are shooting outside! The castle is beautiful and the park that surrounds it is perfect for picnic photo sessions. We took more than 60 pictures during the whole trip and we’d like to share the 10 best ones with you. Please remember that the castle grounds have been used numerous times as films and TV shows location including the famous video for “Run Runaway” by glam rock legends Slade, “The Amazing Race”, “Little Lord Fauntleroy” (BBC TV 1994), “Antiques Roadshow” and “W.E ” directed by Madonna in 2012.

1. Picnic on the meadow

Picnic Area during the Chilli Festival in May 2012

2. Looking through cherry blossom trees

Cherry blossom trees

3. The wall

Behind the wall

4. The castle in the sky

The castle

5.Tower

The Keep

6. A view (to a kill)

The lake

7. The Wishing Fountain

Fountain

8. Island in the sun

In the sunshine

9. Sundial

What’s the time?

10. The last photo of the day!

Closing time

Have a great weekend kids and come back soon!
2 new great editions for Kat-a-log are coming this weekend and we might be visiting another castle pretty soon!